It Doesn`t Figure: Prospect Junior Stuns `em In Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — When the U.S. Figure Skating Championships began two weeks ago, she was Dana MacWho?

And there was no question the anonymity was deserved.

After all, Dana MacDonald of Arlington Heights hadn`t done much to earn recognition in her previous decade of skating.

MacDonald, a junior at Prospect High School, was so weak in the compulsory figures phase of competition that she could never make even regional finals, the first stage on the road to nationals. As a free skater, she wasn`t much better.

So who was that on the bronze medal podium at the Salt Palace after the women`s junior national championship last Saturday?

Dana MacDonald.

``From nerd to third,`` joked her coach, Alex McGowan. ``Now we want to go from worst to first.``

Which makes the question no longer who, but how?

A lot of the credit must go to McGowan, the outspoken and often controversial coach of 1986 world champion and 1988 Olympic bronze medalist Debi Thomas.

When Thomas turned pro after the Olympics, McGowan wound up at a little-known rink outside Detroit and advertised his presence in skating

magazines. MacDonald`s mother saw one of the ads last June and called McGowan. He asked about her technical skills and agreed to take a look at her.

``I was supposed to go to a training camp with Carlo Fassi (coach of three Olympic champions) in Colorado, but we felt Mr. McGowan would have more time to spend with me individually,`` MacDonald said.

MacDonald, 16, was about what her mother had advertised when she first skated for McGowan. She was shaky on the double axel jump, a staple of the figure skating repertoire, and could land about one simple triple jump in every 10 attempts.

``I saw in her a spark and a determination,`` McGowan said. ``It was up to me to fan that spark.``

That was enough for the MacDonalds. They decided to let Dana move to Fraser, Mich., where McGowan is based.

``We thought this would be the best and last chance,`` said her mother, Gloria, who moved with her daughter. ``If this didn`t work out, she would call it the end.``

MacDonald went to a Michigan high school in the morning and trained six hours every day. The intensity of the training left her exhausted but revived confidence that had been dying since she was 12.

McGowan`s goals for this season were modest. He wanted MacDonald to reach sectionals, which required a top four finish in regionals. She won regionals and, to general amazement, finished third in sectionals to qualify for the junior nationals.

``Since she was the new girl at nationals, we just hoped we could get some attention and start to build a reputation for the future,`` McGowan said. He figured the best way to do that was through jumping, which had been exactly the way Thomas made her first impressions.

``Here I was, trying to outjump people again,`` McGowan said, wistfully. ``It was like deja vu.

``I knew it was a 100-1 shot for her to come to nationals and get a medal. But I also knew she was able to go out there and do four triples

(jumps) with almost no experience.``

At nationals, MacDonald was fifth in compulsory figures, fourth in the short program and third in the long program, which counts half the score. She landed four triple jumps in the long program but fell on a double axel.

MacDonald was beaten by Alice Sue Claeys, 14, of Burnsville, Minn. and Geremi Weiss, 16, of Silver Spring, Md. Both will be senior skaters next year, while MacDonald`s debut as a senior depends on her passing a proficiency test. ``Dana is raw, but she has the look and the talent,`` said Mary Lynn Gelderman, who coached former world champion Elaine Zayak, another formidable jumper.

MacDonald should benefit from the elimination of compulsory figures next year, but her future is not entirely certain. She will go with McGowan to his summer base in Sun Valley, Idaho, to train for July`s U.S. Olympic Festival, for which MacDonald earned a spot with her finish at nationals. Her parents are trying to decide about a return to Michigan.